1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an indicating instrument such as an indicating instrument in a motor vehicle, which includes at least one digital display unit displaying an indication about what gear is currently being used and/or that a gear shift operation is required.
2. Description of the Background Art
Motor vehicles, particularly those with automatic transmissions, generally includes indicators to visually indicate to the operator which gear is currently engaged. For example, the German patent publication DE 100 46 909 A1 illustrates an indicating instrument that displays the engaged gear in a separate region and also displays other functions such as a tachometer and speed sensor in other regions of the instrument. In another example, the German patent publication DE 197 57 564 A1 illustrates the gear indicator being displayed with the speedometer.
In addition, the German patent publication DE 197 39 626 A1 discloses a display unit displaying a limited predefined character set. In this publication, the display unit is a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and displays the selected gear on a screen portion of the display unit. A light component such as a light-emitting diode (LED) or a light bulb can also be integrated into the display unit. The LED can be used to indicate a warning signal to the operator. The LED or light bulb can also be used to illuminate the display unit. Further, the German patent publication DE 29 23 986 describes an optimal shift control process for a manual transmission. That is, the optimal shift time for shifting gears is displayed to the operator.